


Injured

by Nerdy_JD



Series: Lava one-shots [7]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Blood and Gore, Complicated Relationships, M/M, Major Character Injury, mentions of depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 20:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6166564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdy_JD/pseuds/Nerdy_JD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The voice inside your head can make everything seem a lot more complicated than it really is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Injured

**Author's Note:**

> Hey. You know I don’t even know what to talk about anymore, so you may as well just try to enjoy the story. I’ve been obsessed with fluff lately. Fluff and Angst.

_‘Does he even like me?’_

I land a solid hit to the punching bag, causing it to swing to the back and forcefully come forward again.

_‘Or am I just part of a one-night stand?’_

I thrust my fist forward again and watch as the outline of it imprints itself of the red covering of the bag. It’s close to ripping already and with the force I’m hitting it with, it won’t last long.

_‘Maybe I’m not, maybe he actually likes me.”_

Two more hits collided with the sturdy bag, my fists were aching, begging me to stop and take a break after the long hours of training. I wonder if it still counted as training if it was your stress reliever. I huffed as small droplets of shining perspiration slid off my forehead and dampened my hair, making it stick to the back of my neck. I combed my fingers through the wet strands and realised that my knuckles were bloody and the white wraps around them were being stained by the red liquid seeping out of the small cuts. I sighed and walked over to the small table where my towel rested on, the fluffy black material soaked up the wetness covering my neck as I dabbed around my head. My shirt was discarded with the rest of my ninja kit, as well as my scythe, in a corner somewhere.

My phone sat next to the towel, a small blinking light catching my attention, I eyed the black gummy cover that was over my phone. Then I moved a little closer and proceeded to check the messages that had come through in the past few hours. Two messages from Jay, an email from Nya and a bunch of notifications from other social media. But nothing from him.

_‘Why did I let myself get into this?’_

With renewed anger I snatched my headphones and my ninja gear and walked out of the training room. First I needed a shower, and then I’ll eat something, I looked out the window to see that the sun was shining brightly down and by the time I’m done then it should be cool enough for me to take a short jog. My list was all sorted out and now all I had to do was actually do it. On my way to my room I passed Jay trying to teach Zane how to play video and games and Nya was hammering something, somewhere. But I didn’t see him anywhere, he probably went to train somewhere else, or maybe Sensei sent him on an errand or he just went to the shop to buy food for tonight. I was cooking.

_‘Great, another night of insults and jokes. What joy, I can’t wait!’_

I thought to myself when the dark door of my bedroom came into view, inside it looked like everyone else’s rooms, same bed, same desk and same door to their bathroom. Only, my desk was littered with piles upon piles of sketches and failed drawings as well as lyrics that went terribly wrong. I peeked over on the cluttered mess to see what my latest drawing was, it was a small sketch of the team and our dragons in the background but I drew jay too small and Zane too square. I sighed again, another thing I messed up. I pushed open the bathroom door after putting my gear on a small table, the first aid kit was in the cabinet where I had left it last time I hurt myself and the bandages were still tangled up from when I struggled. I pulled out some small white strips, the name of which I forgot, and unwrapped my knuckles and washed them under the cold water. They stung and I had to bit my lip at one point.

_‘Stop being such a wimp.’_

When the small cuts, which were a lot more than I thought, were clean I closed them up and turned the shower on. The room quickly filled up with the steam of the warm water, the rushing sound of the rapid flow falling on the tiles of the shower created white noise in the back of my head. It was kind of soothing for a moment. I stripped down out of my sweat soaked clothes and walked directly under the waterfall, I let the water soak my hair and glide down my back in multiple streaks. You know what make this weird? He’s my brother, or at least the closest thing I’ll ever get to a brother. This sucked!

My shower turned out to be less relaxing than I thought and pretty much just made me think about how crappy my life was, man I’m such a sap right now. Well at least I get the simple pleasure of an evening jo-

_‘Ninja we need you up here NOW!’_

“Flipping Fantastic!” Who cares, now I really need something to punch and these bad guys just might do the trick. I ran up the stairs and joined Jay and Zane on my way to the command deck where Nya was furiously typing away at one of the consoles, the screen above her head was lit up with tiny red dots all centred in one area. Kai joined us soon after we circled around the table and waited for a debriefing, he had his ninja uniform on and it looked messed up and untidy. Which reminded me that I still had my running clothes on, I tried to ignore it when I turned to Nya. “What’s the problem?” I asked as my leader face fell into place and I took charge. Sensei walked into the room slowly and stood in a corner, watching and waiting to give his advice when needed.

“Serpentine are attacking a remote village north of here. They’re mostly Constructai but some are Venomari so be careful, I don’t think we need a repeat of what happened to Kai last time.” She managed to let a husky and dry laugh escape her lips, I noted our enemies and already started formulating their weaknesses on my head. “Okay, anything else?” I asked again, I was itching to get out there and pummel some snake face. “Well they don’t seem to be up to anything specific except to terrorise these villagers.” I huffed out in annoyance and walked out of the room, mumbling a soft thanks before I quickly changed into my ninja gear and grabbed my Scythe. I made in just as we stopped close enough to the village to drop down, Jay jumped over first, followed by Kai and then me and Zane.

Screaming villagers ran past us, begging for help in stopping the Serpentine, I muted out their calls and went for the first snake that my eyes landed on. “Hey air for brains, turn around!” The smaller Constructai looked annoyed when he turned around from stomping on an elderly women, she looked unconscious but I couldn’t be sure. But one thing I was sure about was that the serpentine would forever have a surprised expression plastered on his face because as soon as he turned his ugly mug around I swung my scythe and removed the things head from his neck. Blood spattered everywhere around me, luckily I had my hood on so it didn’t really matter. Other people running stopped to see the scene and cried out in horror when the black body fell to the ground and the head drowned in a pool of its own blood. This seemed to attract the attention of the other snakes and before I knew it, all of them had stopped what they were doing to look at me with anger, surprise and fear. But mostly anger.

I gazed down at my golden scythe and watched at the maroon blood dripped to the ground, then I looked up at the multiple eyes on me including my brothers’. “So who’s next, I’m doing free beheadings here.” I bounced my weapon from one hand to the next and got into a fighting position as I waited for them to attack. I snuck a glance at my brothers standing a little further away from me, Jay had a fearful smile on his face, and Zane looked concerned and didn’t exactly agree with my course of action. Kai… Kai had an impressed smile on his face, he too waved his weapon around and showed the shining golden blade off to our enemies. Now let’s get back to training.

First, get rid of the mindless charging enemy, trip him and once he’s down you end him. Next; focus on the two smaller snakes circling around you, trying to look intimidating but ultimately failing because, since when are serpentine intimidating, that’s just ridiculous. Now listen up kids while uncle Cole shows you know to kill two birds with one stone; when the first serpentine-venomari-spits his venom at you, you’re going to roll out of the way and dodge his attack. When the second one attacks-Constructai-he’s going to try and grab you with he’s tail, dodge that attack too and when his tail is near enough all you have to do is chop it off with a weapon of your choice. While he’s busy screaming himself deaf take the chance to pounce on his friend, swing your weapon in his face a few times until he’s backed up against a wall and when he cannot move back anymore then you strike the finishing blow. By now the constructai would have died of blood loss but if he hasn’t then you can simply end his life before fate does, then for the final part of the lesson, check the battle field to see how your brothers are doing.

I saw Zane handling himself just fine as he knocked the snakes around, taunting them really, Jay was doing well too. The blue ninja was bouncing around like a kid on a sugar high as he swung his nunchucks left, right and centre. Kai was handling himself just fine on his own, he didn’t need any help from us. I scowled when I saw him easily hold back a group of serpentine. But then life happened and the constructai seemed to gain extra brain power to think of a plan that might actually work.

The snakes began digging holes under the buildings, causing them to become unstable and topple over, one of these buildings was behind Jay and Zaptrap was too busy being cocky to notice his impending doom. This evening is turning out to be extremely exhausting, I rushed over to push Jay out of the way, while still punching a few serpentine along the way. “Jay, move out of the way!” I shouted once I was relatively close to him. “What? Why?” he asked and continued fighting, the wall behind him however crumbled further. Why doesn’t he just listen to me? “Jay, move or so help me I will drag your _unconscious_ body to safety!” More constructai rushed in when Jay had actually listened to me and looked behind himself, seeing the wall getting closer to him made the boy freeze with shock, but luckily I made it just in time. Only to be tripped by a tail and sent face first into the dirt.

Good news is that I managed to push Jay out of the way, bad news? I got my arm stuck under a fallen wall now, and let me tell you, it’s a hell of a lot more painful than it sounds. At first I think I blacked out a bit because everything was ringing and most of what was left of the serpentine were retreating, my team was running toward me and Jay. Then when I turned my head I saw just how bad my injury was, my arm was literally _crushed_ under the weight, as in blood everywhere, bone completely shattered, it didn’t even look like an arm anymore. This horrific scene is definitely not something you show to the injured person, you shouldn’t show this to any person really. Which is why, at that very moment, I started hyperventilating. My freaking arm is destroyed, I can’t feel it, I can’t move it and all I can do is look at it and who wants to look at a splattered arm!? I turned my head, which was still on the ground, to my team who had formed a little circle around me.

“Cole try to stay calm we’re-.” _What?!_ “Try-try to stay _calm_?” I managed to get in quickly between ragged and strained breaths. “Are…are you crazy. My arm… m-my… Oh God I’m gonna die!” Black splotches moved around in my vision and nobody looked normal anymore. “Cole. Try to breath.” Zane continued to try and sooth me. “What. Do you think. I’m doing?” Why is it so hard to breathe? “We’ve got to get that wall off of him.” I heard Kai say and then they moved out of my line of sight, by now I was practically drowning in a puddle of my own blood, which only freaked me out even more! The dirty and slightly warm liquid seeped into my mouth, covering my cheeks and I couldn’t do anything about it. It gave off a sickening metallic and gritty taste that refused to leave my mouth anytime soon. “Lift on three. One… two… three.” The heavy weight that was flattening my arm slowly eased off but it only made to pain even worse. The sudden wracking of my body told me that I had started sobbing. “Jay. Move him.” Kai’s strained voice vaguely echoed in my ears as I struggled for breath. Jay quickly grabbed my good arm, the right one, and whispered something. “I’m sorry, this might hurt.” _Oh, you think?_ It felt like a dozen knifes running across my skin, cutting and stabbing into me as my arm and body was dragged across the uneven ground. “I guess it’s me dragging your body out of the way now, huh?” _Jay. I hate you._ The last thing I heard, or rather felt, was the vibration of the wall being dropped and then I thankfully passed out.

Waking up on the Bounty used to be a lot more pleasant before, back then I didn’t wake up in a room that smelled like disinfectant or a hard bed that provided no comfort whatsoever. My eyes fluttered open and a bright light burned them, I hastily turned my head to the side and groaned. “You’re up.” I heard someone yelp but I couldn’t seem to put a face to the voice. The opening and shutting of the door sent shockwaves of pain spreading through my head, I felt a headache coming along.

A few minutes later Zane came in and explained that I had severely injured my arm and that I was extremely lucky that they didn’t have to amputate it. It was dislocated and completely shredded, he said that first thing in the morning I’m going to have to go to the hospital to have it put in a cast. The blood loss was huge as well which was why he gave strict instructions to sleep until then so that my body can recover. One good thing that I heard come out of that conversation was that I would be put on some strong medication that made me feel on top of the world. Jay came to visit a few times to apologise for not listening, Zane came for check-ups and Sensei came to see how I was doing, I was mostly asleep but I still appreciated the thought.

The next morning Zane woke me up and helped me get cleaned up for the Doc. Whoop, the doctor… as Yoda would say, _“The sarcasm is strong within you young padawan.”_  Turns out that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Actually I’m lying, it sucked. I have to stay in a cast for the next four weeks, and my ankle’s fractured so I have to stay off of that for a while too. Sensei says that I need to see someone about my ‘traumatic’ experience, I’m fine really and that’s what I told them too. But what they didn’t understand was that now was not the time to be smothering me, I just needed some time. And maybe some peace to write a letter to my dad, how do you even explain something like this?

I was currently sprawled out on the couch with my headphones one, loud music blasted into each ear and right now I didn’t care about the headache that I’d be getting, I just wanted to not feel for a little while. I stared up at the bland, brown and emotionless ceiling as if it would offer some comfort to my pained body and clouded mind. The pain was a bit better, the doctor gave me some medication that eased the hurting but didn’t make me as loopy, I was grateful, and plus I’d hate to say something that I might regret later. My playlist ended on a satisfying guitar instrumental that helped calm me down, every time that image of my arm came into my mind all I can think about is how horrifying it looked and felt.

I rubbed my eyes in an attempt to clean the memories from my mind, then a figure interrupted my pity party. He walked around the couch and took a seat on the floor next to my head, then he laid down and didn’t seem to mind that whatever he said would probably not be heard through my headphones. And I didn’t make any effort to tell him that I wasn’t listening to anything. We both laid on our backs and watched the uninteresting wood above us, thinking, dreaming, imagining. I almost wanted to break the silence, no matter how comfortable it was, I couldn’t deal with him being this close to me right now, not with all that’s going on in my head. “You’re not moving your fingers.” I turned my head to look down at him with a small frown. “You drum your fingers when you listen to music.” Well thanks for the tip, now I know what to do when I fake it to make you leave. “That’s good to know.” I answered and turned my head back up. “How are you feeling?” was I supposed to answer that? He hasn’t even been in my presence for long and he’s already so annoying, man I need to have more social contact. “In all honesty, I feel like shit. And not like the emoji.” He laughed a little next to me which made a miniscule smile tug at the corners of my lips. I fought so hard to make it go away but when you’re listening to _that_ , all resilience seems to melt away.

When the humour from my joke died away, the room returned to the cold silence that spread between us. “How are you really feeling.” There it is, that moment when you realise that someone can actually see through your mask, but they’re still not doing anything about it. “I-I’m fine.” But I am fine, other than the pain I’m normally in, everything’s fine. I didn’t get an answer, it’s like he wants me to think about what I just said. Maybe even realise, like he did, how fake I really just sounded. My throat began hurting and I could feel my nose starting to clog up. I blinked a few times, denying whatever was currently happening. “I-I’m… I’m…” My voice cracked and I suddenly felt like I was alone, it was so hard just to get _one_ word out, why was it so hard? “I missed you.” It was true, I didn’t want him gone, I didn’t want him to leave. Even if he’s just listening to me right now, that’s all I need. It’s all I need.

A light tickle woke me up from my internal conversation, the good hand that was laid across my abdomen was slowly being lifted up and put down next to me. He laced his fingers in my own and just left it there. It was probably so uncomfortable for him, it was an awkward position, he could have just stood up or something. “I missed you too.”

I couldn’t help it, I had to. I laughed. My entire body was in pain, my head felt like it was being ripped to shreds thanks to that promised headache, I’m incapacitated for the next four to six weeks. An idiot is holding my hand and I’m laughing. No later did the shaking of my own hand tell me that the person next to me was laughing too, was I happy? And if I am, why am I happy? I sucked in a large breath of air and cleared my mind.

When water started running over my face and into my ears, then I saw how my laughter was actually just delaying my sadness. My body no longer shook with giggles but instead with sobs. I shut my eyes tights and tried to stop them from leaking but it only drowned me in darkness and sent an invite to my mind to imagine the worst possible things to happen. I didn’t want to be alone, I didn’t want to be used. I didn’t want to just exist.

The body next to me let go of my hand and stood up, I turned my head away from him and held my breath to keep my body from shaking. For a moment I thought that he was going to leave and just ignore me, but then two strong arms went under my legs and back and lifted me up. It hurt my leg a little but I could manage with the pain, I didn’t know what he was going to do with me or where he would take me. Maybe he was just going to drop me on the floor and watch me shrivel up in a ball of my own agony, the thought certainly crossed my mind. But he didn’t, he just walked, to where? I don’t know. I had my eyes closed and my good hand held his shirt in a death grip, I know I didn’t mind to get away from that couch and a change of scenery was great. But I could hardly think about that right now, I couldn’t really think about anything and I know it’s stupid to just be crying now, I’m a ninja for crying out loud. Lord Garmadon needs to be stopped, the serpentine need to be stopped and my team need a leader, I cannot be crying rights now.

We entered a cinnamon scented room that was draped in different shades of crimson, maroon and shining gold. It was his room, even through bleary eyes, I could never mistake this room for someone else’s. The same old messy closet was still against the wall, unchanged from when I was last in here. His desk look a bit more untidy as well but his bed was neatly made and scattered with large and bright red pillows that looked so comfortably. My sobbing subsided as he laid me down on his bed and tucked a pillow under my leg. He walked over to the light switch and clicked it off so that the room was bathed in a comforting darkness. I didn’t say anything but rather just watched him, he had a content half smile on his face, almost like he was thinking about something. I felt the side of the bed shift as he laid himself down next to me, I rested my head on his shoulder and was just completely still.

“How are you feeling?” he asked again once the silence dragged on for a little while longer, it wasn’t awkward or bad. It was just… _there._

“So much better.”

‘ _Does he even like me?’_ it doesn’t really matter, but I’m sure he does.

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in the making for about a week now and I have to say that I like it. I like it a lot. Only when I re-read it did I realize how sad Cole was, geez and I didn’t even notice. I tried a new writing style and I’m really lovin’ it but I don’t if I’ll be able to write this way all the time. Meh.


End file.
